It’s more than a week away, but Ruth’s House inaugural Our Amazing Race has already garnered a lot of interest in the community.

Our Amazing Race is similar to the hit CBS reality game show, Amazing Race — contestants will receive Washington-based clues that will have participants memorizing clues, biking, singing and dancing to help raise money for the shelter.

The idea for Our Amazing Race came from Elaine Briley, who is a part of the leadership at Ruth’s House and enjoys the television show.

Briley began putting the idea together in early 2013 and based some of her ideas on what other communities were doing. One of her inspirations came from Raleigh’s The Most Amazing Race, which helps the Salvation Army.

“Once we started looking for a big event, I went online and I didn’t realize other communities like Raleigh were doing it,” Briley said. “’I said we could do this’, and we just got started with it.”

Clues are going to be posted around the city at businesses and other locations on decorative wooden houses attached to poles. The red and blue houses bear a similarity to the Ruth’s House logo.

Currently, 18 teams are registered for the race, which is scheduled for May 31.

Most competitors are from the Washington area, but there will be one person from Washington state and a squad from Ocracoke.

“We have friends, families, work groups, organizations and churches have sponsored teams,” Briley said. “We have a young lady coming from Washington state, Ocracoke and Goldsboro. The lady from Washington heard about the event from family that lives in the area.”

Participants had to pay a $250 registration fee to compete, but the team who raised the most can win a $500 prize, according to Deb Ryals, president of Ruth’s House.

“The team that wins the race will get $1,000, and each team has two people,” Ryals said.

Ruth’s House provides a shelter where women and children can come to rebuild their lives after domestic violence, opened in February 2013.